In Search of the Norrisville Pythonesses
by Jet556
Summary: A discussion about the Sorceress turns into a visit to locations where in the 17th century witches or pythonesses, as Ken Finlayson so colourfully calls them, were said to have done there evil deeds. With the intentions to know if there is a connection between the Sorceress and the pythonesses Randy, with Ken as his ride, will get to the bottom of this or go nowhere.
1. The Sorceress

**Welcome everyone. Originally, Theresa was going to be at a wedding. Enjoy and review.**

 **The Sorceress**

"Okay, so the Sorcerer was the evil half of a peddler so what if the Sorceress is the evil half of a-a-a—"

"A what, Randy?" asked Ken.

In the living room of Ken Finlayson's house, Ken listened to Randy while Ken did some filing. Randy had no idea how Randy found his house. Did he tell Randy where he lived at some point and forget? Did he previously bring Randy here? He just couldn't remember.

"I don't know, Ken, but if the Sorcerer is someone's evil half then the Sorceress must be too, right?"

"Remind me why you are even here. Why aren't you with Howard or Theresa or saving someone?"

"Theresa is attending a funeral, Howard is sick and all is well in Norrisville!" Stated Randy.

"So you've come to me. Oh joy."

"You were the one who told me you knew I was the Ninja."

"It doesn't mean you can show up at my house unannounced!" Ken kept filing things. Now where did his file on Skinwalkers get to? "Or just walk in the moment I open the door."

"Yeah, well my parents are home and if they see me talking to myself they'll think I'm crazy!"

"Oh and we certainly wouldn't want that." Commented Ken. "It's not like I would know anything about the sane being called insane." Ken obviously did. Howard believed Ken to be insane Debbie did too.

"Anyway, if the Sorceress is someone's evil half then whose could she be?"

"Well…" Ken put his filing aside and placed his right hand on his jaw. "Lets see here… Norrisville is located in New England. New England has had a witchcraft problem but I have a feeling the Sorceress' creation would have happened long before those so she couldn't have been someone accused of witchcraft during the witch trials… Surely, she couldn't have been one of the Norrisville Pythonesses."

"'Pythoness?'" asked Randy.

"An archaic term for 'witch.'" Replied Ken. "The word itself refers to a female soothsayer or conjurer of spirits. The word is of late Middle English origin derived from the old French 'phitonise', which is in turn an alteration of the late Latin word 'pythonissa', which is based on the Greek word 'puthon', which means 'soothsaying demon.' One may compare it to the word 'Pythia', the Pythia is more commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi. The origin of Pythia comes from Delphi's former name 'Putho.'"

"I didn't ask for the history of the word!" exclaimed Randy. "I only wanted to know what it meant!" Randy's eyes widened. "Wait a minute… A conjurer of spirits… No! Stank and spirits aren't the same thing! Uh, Ken, have you ever encountered witchcraft before?"

"It depends on what kind you're talking about." Stated Ken. "In actuality I have encountered practitioners of West African Vodun, in West Africa obviously, but I prefer to say I have encountered Hoodoo since more people have heard of it than West African Vodun."

"Then you're no help."


	2. Possible Connection

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 **Possible Connection**

"Wait a minute, what if there is a connection between the Sorceress and these Norrisville Pythonesses?" asked Randy. He had at first thought the word 'Pythoness' better suited to a snake-woman but felt that it actually sounded kind of cool.

"Aw jeeze." Sighed Ken. "What are you planning exactly?"

"We are going to places where pythonesses did their evil deed!" exclaimed Randy rather dramatically.

"We?" asked Ken. "What's with the we? You are! I'm staying here to do my filing!"

"But you have a car, you can drive. It will take less time for me to get there. Why ninja somewhere if you don't have too?"

"When did ninja become a verb?" asked Ken.

"Come on, Ken, don't change the subject."

"Get out of my house."

"You know you're interested in this kind of sight seeing."

"I'm about to put on some Wagner!"

"I've attended a performance of 'Faust', I'm immune to opera!" commented Randy. "If you want to put on Wagner then go ahead! I'm staying until you agree to drive me to the places!"

"How about a Shakespeare audiobook?" asked Ken. "Are you immune to Shakespeare? I think you're not!"

"Ken! Get your keys and go out to your car!"

"No!"

"You know you're interested!"

"My interest is restricted to the cryptozoological, the extraterrestrial and the supernatural." Stated Ken. "The occult have absolutely no interest for me."

"You know I can do this all day!"


	3. Hecate

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 **Hecate**

Driving to one of the locations, Ken kept his eyes on the road. He did not want to look at Randy and see that smug look on his face for having convinced him to do this. There was only one thing Ken could do and that was talk.

"What do you know about Hecate, Randy?"

"Who?" Randy had never heard the name before.

"In Greece, then called Achaea, Hecate was worshipped as the Goddess of magic, crossroads, the moon, ghosts and necromancy. She was for all intents and purposes the goddess of witchcraft. In Rome, she was called 'Trivia' and I swear Randy, if you start laughing I will pull this car over and kick your butt for an hour! Trivia haunted crossroads and graveyards and was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft and most of all she wandered about at night only to be seen by the barking of dogs who told of her approach."

"You mean there is something out there worse than the Sorceress?" asked Randy.

"I don't know." Replied Ken. "I am a Celtic Neo-Pagan and I never would have guessed that the Death Raptor was the Phoenician god Moloch. If Hecate is real… By Ogma, I hope she's not. Moloch was a vengeful beast but Hecate has all the powers of magic at her fingertips."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were scared." Commented Randy.

"I am scared. It was different to attract evil gods when you were alone but now… If me and Heidi do someday become more than boyfriend and girlfriend I don't want us to go through what my family had to for generations."

"I have more of a reason to be afraid of her wrath than you should be." Said Randy. "If Hecate is real then the Sorceress may have been her greatest worshiper. I'm the one who put the Sorceress in the Land of Shadows. The Sorceress escaped once and she could again in less than half the time she did before."

"She may already be out." Added Ken. "And if Hecate is real then she may very well have lent a hand."

"Do you know of anyway to ward of deities?" asked Randy.

"I wish." Replied Ken. "I do however no a way to break out of a nightmare without waking up."


	4. The Bell Witch

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 **The Bell Witch**

A cavern. This was where Randy and Ken had ended up. While Randy ventured inside, he found Ken to be hesitant to.

"Is there a problem?" asked Randy.

"You ever hear about the Bell Witch?" asked Ken in response.

"For juice sake, Ken, get in here!" exclaimed Randy. "I haven't seen you this scared since that episode involving Moloch. Forget about that legend and get in here! You bluffed a ghost! What do you have to be afraid of?"

"Meeting the same end that Farmer John Bell did." Stated Ken.

"Ken, there has never been any reports of poltergeists in Norrisville now just get in here."

"What about goblins?" asked Ken.

"What exactly would goblins fit under?" asked Randy. "Do pukwudgies count as goblins?"

"No but Tengu do." Replied Ken.

"Excuse me?" asked Randy. He had never brought up the Tengu but if Ken was aware of them then that bit of information was a good one. Could the Tengu have once been a tool of the Sorceress? "Never mind that and the Bell Witch very much could have been a mortal woman and not a spirit or a… goblin."

"Alright but what exactly are the pythonesses said to have done here?" asked Ken as he stepped over the threshold.

"I don't know." Shrugged Randy. "Animal sacrifice or something."

Hearing that, Ken stopped where he was. He had one foot outside and the inside of the cave. Might as well have had a foot on one of the isles and a foot on mainland Afro-Eurasia.

"Or something?" asked Ken. "What do you mean or something? Don't you know?"

"No, I don't know!" replied Randy. "Now come on with that flashlight! Two are better than one!"


	5. Enriqueta Marti

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 **Enriqueta Marti**

Having found nothing the cavern, Randy and Ken moved on to the ruin of an old house. There was nothing particularly sinister about it. It was just the ruin of an old house.

"And what exactly happened here?" asked Ken.

"Witches kidnapped kids, brought them here, killed them and ate them." Replied Randy.

"Just like Erniqueta Marti, the Witch of Barcelona." Commented Ken.

"When did she live?"

"She was born in 1868 and died in 1913. She kidnapped her last victim in 1912. She died at the hands of her prison mates." Ken cleared his throat as he entered what looked to have once been a bedroom. "Your magic book ever mention anything about your Sorceress doing that?"

"No." said Randy. "But from the look of her I wouldn't have exclude her from doing something like that. If the Sorcerer was the evil half of the Peddler then the Sorceress must have been someone's evil half too and that must mean she must have done terrible things."

"Yes, well… if she did then she did and if she didn't then she didn't." Ken then noticed a strange mark embedded in the stone floor. "What in the name of William the Lion is that?"

Randy knelt down and recognized something all too familiar. It was a handprint. A four fingered handprint.

"She was here." Stated Randy.

"But you say that the Sorcerer had four fingered hands too." Said Ken. "What if it is his?"

"Then it's his and if it's hers then it's hers. Anyway my gut tells me its hers."

"If it was Howard's gut it probably be telling him to find something to eat." Commented Ken.

Randy couldn't help but laugh. That was actually pretty funny.


	6. A Bronze

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 **A Bronze**

Still in that old house, Randy noticed something sticking out of the ground. No longer was the floor stone but this particular section was dirt. Randy wasn't sure what it was and pulling it out of the ground certainly wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do but that was just what he did.

It was a small bronze, a small sculpture made of bronze. If someone couldn't guess what it was made of from the name that would have been pretty sad.

It was the likeness that caused Randy's eyes to widen. This bronze was a dead ringer for the Sorceress herself!

"What did you find?" asked Ken. Randy turned to him and showed his discovery. "I take it that is the Sorceress."

"Well, it's not the Sorcerer in drag!" exclaimed Randy.

"Okay, so there is a connection." Said Ken. "What do you think this connection is?"

"Followers seeking to free her from the Land of Shadows?" Randy wasn't exactly sure but that was the best he could come up with. "However, she might have just escaped on her own."

"Could have been a group of anarchists who looked to her as their inspiration." Suggested Ken.

"Anarchist witches?" asked Randy. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"You don't suppose they are still around, do you?"

"I'm not sure." Said Randy. "I'm just not sure."

 **The End**


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